


rest for the wicked

by kagurasbuns (orphan_account)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Itachi's disease makes an appearance, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 00:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18560218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/kagurasbuns
Summary: Itachi doesn't want to stop moving. Kisame reminds him that it's okay to stop.





	rest for the wicked

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by a friend, based on a prompt list on Tumblr: http://kagura4.tumblr.com/post/184312102586/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-number-and-ill-write-you
> 
> KisaIta - “Hey, I’m with you, okay? Always.”

With his heart on his sleeve, a blade always in hand, Uchiha Itachi keeps moving even as the past screams back at him for revenge. _Never stop moving_ , his father once told him the day Itachi came home as an ANBU captain. When Itachi’s blade met his mother’s back, his father kept encouraging him. _Never stop moving_ , and with one last tearful smile, he fell under his golden son’s blade.

So Itachi goes. He crosses countries, villages, homes, and leaves behind a thousand replications of that single fateful night. The only difference is he never leaves survivors behind anymore. It doesn’t actually help him sleep better at night - but it does give him some limited consolation that none of those little children have to drive themselves mad on a road of vengeance.

Itachi keeps moving, even if his lungs fill with blood and his legs fail him. The world won’t slow down for someone like him, not even one bit. He struggles to get on his feet - he knows his time is soon, but he can’t die yet. It needs to be Sasuke who guides him to his grave.

The last thing Itachi registers before he passes out is someone calling his name. A few hours after he faints, Itachi finds himself under the leaf-dappled shade of a great tree, and a cold body pressed up against his. At first, he wonders if it’s a corpse until the body moves and a big hand reaches up to pat his forehead.

 _Kisame_. It’s Kisame who called out his name, who brought him to shelter, who watched over him in his sleep. Sometimes Itachi forgets that he actually has a partner - someone who’s supposed to be looking out for him.

“You’re running a fever,” Kisame informs him. “We should stop by somewhere you can rest.”

Itachi tries to speak and battles a horrible lump in his throat. “I’ll manage,” he insists.

“There’s no need for that, you know. You can let your guard down,” Kisame presses.

Itachi feels too dizzy to think, let alone argue. But this is wrong. He has always moved forward, even if it felt impossible - even if it felt _wrong_ to just keep moving. So stopping now feels like a dishonor to his parents, to the entire clan that he’s murdered in cold blood. After all, did Itachi spare them a second to collect their breath? To utter their last words? To say goodbye?

Unfortunately, though, Itachi’s disease is more than willing to voice its opinion on the matter, and he falls into another coughing fit before he can retaliate. When Itachi’s nerves sear with white-hot pain, he reminds himself that it’s his punishment and bites his agony down like it’s a secret that he can’t divulge to anyone.

Kisame would know, though. After all, he and Itachi share the same path - as criminals, as traitors, as the damned. He would _understand_ the chains that shackle Itachi down from seeking salvation because they’re the same ones that Kisame is bound to.  

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” Kisame drives his point home. “So you don’t have to do this.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking requests! Just hit me up on Tumblr. My URL is kagura4.


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